Vincenzo Stagliano was born in Chiaravalle Centrale, Italy on May 7, 1893.
1
He and his brother, Giussepe, arrived in the United States on the SS Re D'Italia on November 2, 1910.
Sometime after his arrival, he assumed the professional name James Albert Stagliano.
2. He first appears in
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the 1919-1920 season as "Stagliano, J. A."
3.
In 1933, Mr.
Stagliano filed a Declaration of Intention to become a naturalized citizen of the United
States, followed by a Petition for Naturalization in 1936.
4
He was granted U.S. citizenship a year later at which time he also petitioned the court to
formally change his name from Vincenzo to Albert Stagliano.
5
While in Detroit Mr.
Stagliano maintained an apartment in the newly-constructed
Santa Fe Apartments within walking distance of Orchestra Hall, and at the same time
he also owned a house in Lochmoor Village (now the Village of Grosse Pointe Woods) in the
Detroit suburbs.
6 With the one exception cited in the notes below, there is no indication that he
was ever married and he had no children. On July 10, 1947 he intended to sail from
Southampton, England on the S.S. Queen Elizabeth, returning to his home at 70 Lido Blvd.,
Lido Beach, New York. His name, however, was crossed off of the ships manifest.
7
Mr. Stagliano's professional career is detailed below.

Declaration of Intention (1933)

Draft Registration (1918)

Declaration of Intention (1933)

In 1919 Mr. Stagliano joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as fifth horn while that same year
Bruno Jaenicke (1887-1946) also joined the section as principal. For the 1921-22 season Mr. Stagliano became
alternate solo horn with Mr. Jaenicke. On May 11, 1922, he was featured on WCX
radio, with Theordore Yeschke, flute, Maurice Warner, violin, and Dirk Van Emmerich, piano.
The Detroit Free Press reviewed Mr. Stagliano's performance as follows: "
For the first time the French horn, played by Mr. Stagliano, was heard over the radio. This
instrument is not often used for solo work even on the concert platform and came as a
delightful surprise to the listeners-in. Mr. Stagliano is one of the few French horn
soloists in America and plays the instrument with skill. ...Then
came a foretaste of the general unusualness of the program in the flute and French horn number
"Souvenir du Rigi" by Doppler, played by Mr. Yeschke and Mr. Stagliano. ...Combining
the four instruments, violin, horn, flute and piano, an exquisite Nocturne by Doppler was given
before M. Stagliano played a French horn solo, an aria by Sinigaglia, which set the Radio
Department telephones jangling with questions ss to the identity of player and instrument.
"

The following two seasons there was a turnover of co-principal horns. Mr. Jaenicke moved
to the New York Philharmonic and was replaced by
Arkadia Yegudkin (1884-1956), and then for the 1923-24 season
Otto Berndt from Berlin replaced Mr. Yegudkin. In 1924, the section was reduced to four players with Mr. Stagliano
as solo horn. He remained in that position through the 1935-36 season. (From 1919 through
the 1927-28 season he is listed in the D.S.O. programs as "Stagliano, J.", then in 1928 as
"Stagliano, A." (presumably to distinquish himself from his nephew, James Stagliano), and finally in
1931 as "Stagliano, Albert".)
At the same time he also served as principal horn in the first known radio orchestra in the United
States, the
Detroit News Orchestra, created by the newspaper of the same name.

For the 1936/37 season Mr. Stagliano moved to the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra as principal horn season,
where he was immediately noticed in their first concert of the series by reviewer Herbert Elwell
of the Cleveland Plain Dealer
(October 23, 1936): "Incidentally, the excellent work being done by the new first horn
player, Albert Stagliano, should not go without mention." The program conducted by
Artur Rodzinski included the "Prelude and Love Death" from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde",
and the First Symphony of the young Soviet composer, Shostakovich.
After only one season in Cleveland Mr. Stagliano was selected to be the first principal horn of
the newly-formed hand-picked NBC Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini for its inaugural season
(1937/38). In 1939 he returned to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra once again as its
principal horn remaining for the next three seasons. Then, according to
one source, Mr. Stagliano returned to the NBC Symphony for the 1943/44 through 1945/46
seasons while Arthur Berv was serving in the United States Air Force Band.

Albert Stagliano was the uncle of and teacher of
James Stagliano (1912-1987), who became principal horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a
well-known horn soloist. At age 16, James joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as
assistant principal to his uncle.

Biographical information is taken from the public sources cited below. These are sometimes
contradictory in specific facts as noted, but in general they
are securely linked together by various common threads. Since this page contains various
conclusions by the author, it should not be cited as a primary source for any further biographical
studies on Mr. Stagliano.

2.
United States Selective Service Registration, 1918. On this document
he stated his age as 33 and date of birth May 7, 1885. May 7 is consistent with other
documents, but the year and stated age inflate his age by eight years. The handwriting of the surname in
his signature matches other documents, however the given names are mispelled: "Jams Ablert"
(see copies in the text).
His occupation is "musician", address: 5401 Indiana Ave. Chicago. His employer's name is c/o
P.J. Powers, which is the same as on his brother's, (now called "Joseph") registration. Most interesting
is the mention of nearest realtive: Mrs. J.A. Stagliano, 453 Main St. Rutland (or possibly Rockland)
Massachusetts, whereas all other documents state that he is single. The Massachusetts State
Tuberculosis Sanatorium was located in Rutland, however no one named Stagliano has been found
in the local historical records. The reference to a wife and his inflated age might have
been fibs to avoid being drafted. In 1918 exemptions were given for men with dependents.
Most draftees were unmarried and about 75% of married men received deferments.
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3. Detroit Symphony Orchestra program. Apparently he did not move to
Detroit immediately. In his Petition for Naturalization he states that he has lived in
Detroit continuously since September 1922, at which time he had become alternate solo horn.
He also first appears in Polk's City Directory of Detroit in 1922 as "Jno A" Stagliano,
residing at 3765 Cass Avenue. At the same time, his sister-in-law Mary Teresa, (now the widow of brother
Joseph) has also moved to Detroit at 4426 Brush Street a few blocks from Albert. In her family is
ten-year-old James Stagliano who is a student of his uncle Albert.
Albert Stagliano has not been found in the 1920 federal census.
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6. U.S. Federal Census, 1930. He appears twice in this census at two
addresses. His house at 21085 Mack Avenue in Lochmoor Village is valued at $10,000. Three years
later in his Declaration of Intention, he listed his address as 22019 Mack Avenue.
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7. List of United States Citizens, S.S. Queen Elizabeth, July 10, 1947.
Albert Stagliano's identity is confirmed by the date and location of his naturalization.
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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Peter Hirsch at the New York Public Library for searching the library's
holdings of Detroit Symphony Orchestra programs.

WWJ--The Detroit News: the History of Radiophone Broadcasting by the Earliest and Foremost of Newspaper Stations; together with information on radio for amateur and expert,
The Evening news association, 1922